Signs of spring offer hope in disaster-stricken Japan. Blooming flowers and chirping birds signal nature’s restorative promise, but those signs are also reminders of an uncertain future as contamination from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant spreads through soil and air.
About 450 miles north, outside of the danger zone where on March 11 a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami that slammed the nuclear plant, Mission Network associates Ray Epp and Akiko Aratani, directors of Menno Village, are among those who are offering neighborly help. The husband and wife team have made Menno Village, a Christian community involved in agriculture and education, available as a temporary home for evacuees.
“People have been wondering, ‘What could we do to help?’” Epp said via phone. “We could offer children a safe place to be. We can provide them with goods.”
But evacuees have not come in droves, as perhaps refugees fleeing a war zone might, Epp said. There haven’t been many takers despite the alarming threat.
“Many people (near the epicenter) are waiting,” Epp said. “They don’t want to leave until they have closure.”
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami has left nearly 28,000 dead or missing. The epicenter of the quake was near the east coast of Honshu in the country’s northeast, and the destruction stretched along the coast more than 230 miles south to Tokyo and beyond. Powerful aftershocks have continued and added to the devastation, though cleanup and relief efforts are underway.
The government recently made it illegal to enter a 12-mile evacuation zone near the Fukushima nuclear plant. According to published reports, nearly 80,000 area residents have been affected. Many evacuees are living in gymnasiums in the hopes of returning home sooner rather than later.
Epp said that many of these residents are seniors who have farmed their entire lives. Meanwhile, many young people had moved away over the decades in search of jobs as government policies emphasized modernization and urban living. The plant was built to serve the power needs of Tokyo’s urbanites. It was also intended to bring jobs to the rural areas. Now it has potentially made the area uninhabitable.
Among the younger generation that continues to farm, but are considering evacuating are Yoshiki Kanno and Meiko, his wife, of Iitate Village, which is about 21 miles from the Fukushima power plant. Four months ago, the Kannos paid a visit to Menno Village to renew friendships dating back to when Yoshiki Kanno studied at Rakuno Gakuen University where Epp and Aratani teach. They were not planning on returning so soon.
“God brought us back here this time,” Yoshiki told Epp as Epp picked them up at the train station.
“I learned from the newspaper that the soil in our village is contaminated with high levels of the radioactive particle cesium, and we were very worried that it takes a long time to weaken the radiation because we are farmers with cattle and farmland,” wrote Meiko, via e-mail through a translator.
When the nuclear reactor blew, the wind was blowing in the direction of the Kannos’ town. Rain and snow carried radiation to their land.
At Menno Village, Epp escorted the Kannos and introduced them to townspeople in the surrounding area. They attended a local meeting where they shared their plight and stories of others surviving in and near the disaster area. The Kannos are 18th-generation farmers and, like many in their village, they do not want to leave their homeland.
“No one yet knows how long we could stay in the (Iitate) village or if we have to leave,” Meiko wrote. “We all hope to continue to farm in the village, but if we have to leave for a long time, we think we have to find a place to farm during that period. If so, we can’t explain our feelings with one word like ‘sad’ or ‘lonely.’ We are very uneasy, but we will have to make a choice with a hope for our future and for our children.”
Just after arriving at Menno Village, the Kannos learned that Meiko is pregnant.
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
